Free Rhetorical Analysis on Veal Production As Contained In Mercyforanimals.Org Essay Sample
Rising of calves for production of veal is perhaps an unacceptable commercial activity that may be used to earn a living by farmers. The website Mercyforanimals.org is opposed to this practice by creating awareness for animal rights. The overall implication of the information in the web site is to try to discourage people from using veal in order to stop slaughtering of calves at a tender age. This means that the audience is the public who use veal for food. Although this could be carrying some weight in having mercy for the poor young animals, it can be rebutted since calves are animals just like any other. This means that both are cows and their use should not be different. There is no reasonable argument for the campaign done by this website because it suggests that slaughtering calves or cows at a tender age is against animal rights. If this was an ideal claim, then it would be wise to say that even mature cows should not be slaughtered because they have a right to live too. Furthermore, what is the actual and accurate age that a cow is mature? This is perhaps a weakness in the overall nature of the campaign on this website. However, the site is concerned with how the animals are handled, in addition to being slaughtered when still very young.
Veal is a source of protein just like any other meat from cows, and there is no substantial evidence from food and dietetics that veal could not be beneficial to the body just because it comes from calves. In addition, the website does not recognize that people have the right to use whatever food they want. It engages vegetarians in spreading its massage forgetting that people are not identical in terms of tastes preferences. This rebuttal seems substantial in opposing what the organization does via its website. The website disregards history because of the fact the veal has been used for a long time and no detrimental effects have been realized in animals and society in general.
The site uses the intellectual ability of its founder Mr. Nathan Runkle to try to convince the public not to use veal as food because it is obtained after gross violation of animal rights. This is perhaps intended to create the sense of how serious and authentic the issue is; therefore, make people see the need stop using the product. The website also contains a slide illustration that exhibits messages in brief. The demonstrators in the photos are exposed as peaceful and carrying placards with a clear message written on them. The message that can be observed from the site reads “mercy for animals: no one is free when others are oppressed.” In this regard, the message is portrayed as extremely serious because a perspective that portrays the animals as dignified creatures is used. Referring to animals as ‘others’ may signify that they, together with human beings belong to one unified society where everyone has his or her own rights that must be respected.
The website further exposes the seriousness surrounding these issues by involving veterinary doctors, university professors, and ethologists to back what it advocates. This technique of communicating the message adds authenticity of the claims because such people are respected in the society. By mentioning how they agree with the group’s message, the website aims at convincing the audience easily.
Communication strategy used in this website is dependable in the sense that they are derived from very reliable sources. An article on the site exposes how some of the companies producing veal subjects calves to insurmountable abuse. Authenticity of this information is demonstrated by the author using footage from one of the leading industries in veal production located at Buckeye Veal Farm in Apple Creek, Ohio. The author says that the video shows chained calves that are inside 2-feet wide wooden boxes that cannot allow them to turn, play, or engage in their natural behavior. The author further reveals that the poor animals cannot breathe fresh air, see sunlight, bond with their mothers, or even groom themselves, which is a form of cleaning in animals. In another article, the site reveals to the audience how gruesome the situation is by stating that calves are bludgeoned in their skulls using pickaxes and hummers up to six times until they are unconscious. They are then thrown onto a pile of other unconscious calves and left for the dead before the next processing stage. To any normal human being, this is unacceptable because there are other methods of doing this in a dignified manner.
Putting the actual actions that oppress the animals on the site is aimed at convincing the audience to believe what the site’s message. This is true if the saying that ‘seeing is believing’ is anything to go by. The use of real examples is perhaps more reaching than just explaining in plain text. Here, the author tries to use the emotional nature of a human being to send the message of how cruel the industries are in killing the young animals. Lack of the above necessities is a cause for sympathy especially for the poor and young helpless animals. The author uses this pathos to appeal to the emotional nature of readers and persuade them to desist from using veal. This can easily convince the readers who may happen to be rearing animals that they would not subject to such conditions. In line with this pathos, there is another video footage showing a calf in great agony and seemingly writhing in pain. This feature also appeals to the audience to have mercy on these animals and perhaps do something (stop using veal) to stop what they see.
In attempts to convince the audience further, the website uses articles with information that credible individuals agree with in any way. For instance, the site reveals that an animal behavior specialist at the University of Colorado is opposed to animal oppression terming what the calves were undergoing as frankly disgusting, reprehensible, and horrific. The author uses ethical appeal strategy or credibility of the university doctor as an ethos to convince the audience that the site is worthy reading and agreeing with what it says. This is because people tend to listen and agree with people with intellectual authority about a specific issue. The trueness in these incidences is reinforced by the fact that the articles on the site reveal the real name of the venues where the activities surrounding the issue happen. This is obviously without fear of contradiction or legal actions against it meaning that there is no doubt that the acts happen.
The use of diction by the site is majorly informal because the language used is similar to that used by people on a daily basis. This means that it will be easier for the audience to understand the message well and see its sense because the language is familiar. In addition to using this method, the site also employs many words that would evoke emotions to the audience. Words such as horrific, deplorable, gruesome among other are very effective in promoting the use of this style. The words are repeated in most articles just to insist on what the situation is like. The video footage that streams on the site also creates the same feeling. The calves captured by undercover investigators show a lot of agony and pain before they are killed and used to make veal.
Similarly, the videos also contain many similarities in terms of expressing the grave condition surrounding the whole issue. The diction is very influential on insisting the need to do something in order to arrest the situation. It has been used to bring out the exigence on the issue because it creates the sense of immediate attention by the consumers of the products emanating from the abuse of the right of the animals. This is because it shows how dire the problem is especially in large-scale farms that could create a massive impact if they stopped the vice. The site further reveals other similar massive abuse of animal rights such as in chicken and pigs just to show how similar practices are spread to more animals whose products are used by consumers that are oblivious of what happens before the products are processed and availed for consumption.
Language has also been used on the site in line with what it should relay to the audience who are the public. The writing style in the articles on the site is filled with quotations that represent the actual words that came from various authoritative sources. This insists on how original the information is; therefore, reliable and easy to convince. Figurative language is also dominant especially where pathos is used to induce emotions. The audience is made to create their own internal scenario of what is happening, using what they see in the videos, and read in the articles found on the site. Personification is also another language style used. Calves are portrayed as human beings especially on the web’s slide showing people marching with a placard referring to the animal as ‘others’. This is intended to make the audience appreciate that the animals are as close to them; thus, not deserving the treatment they are being accorded.
Irony is also evident with the site because it demonstrates how badly calves are treated while on the other hand, they are expected to provide people with food. If they were regarded as beneficial to people because they are food, then they should be treated better. Imperative language is also used on the site where the audience is asked to put their love for the animals into action. Another striking future about the language used is that the sentences are short in structure with a simple language. No metaphors, colloquial expressions, or even heavy vocabulary is used. This is aimed at delivering the message effectively.
The organization Mercy for Animals as it is known seems to drive the massage home. This is because it has used the site in a very powerful way. First, the use of video footage about gross violation of the rights of calves proves to the audience that the bad acts actually happen. Therefore, people are easily persuaded to stop using veal in order to stop the abuse. Quoting educated individuals from institutions of higher learning also makes the message sink more into people’s brains. Diversity in membership of the site is also another indicator that the site is successful in sending the intended message. This goes a long way in explaining the fact that the site has attracted over one million visitors. Therefore, the site can be said to have made the organization successful in its claim to stop the abuse of calves.